Phoebe Wynne's The Ruins is a suspenseful, femimist Gothic coming-of-age tale with shades of Patricia Highsmith and Atonement, pitched against the sun-soaked backdrop of the French Riviera. The most dazzling summer casts the darkest shadows. Welcome to the Chateau des Sètes, a jewel of the Cote d’Azur, where long summer days bring ease, glamour, and decadence to the holidaymakers who can afford it. Ruby Ashby adores her parents’ house in France, but this August, everything feels different. Unexpected guests have descended upon the chateau––friends of her parents, and their daughters—and they are keen to enjoy the hot, extravagant summer holiday to its fullest potential. Far from England, safe in their wealth and privilege, the adults revel in bad behavior without consequence, while the girls are treated as playthings or abandoned to their own devices. But despite languid days spent poolside and long nights spent drinking, a simmering tension is growing between the families, and the sanctuary that Ruby cherishes soon starts to feel like a gilded cage. Over two decades later the chateau is for sale, its days of splendor and luxury long gone, leaving behind a terrible history and an ugly legacy. A young widow has returned to France, wanting to purchase the chateau, despite her shocking memories of what transpired that fateful summer. But there is another person who is equally haunted by the chateau, and who also seeks to reclaim it. Who will set the chateau free––and who will become yet another of its victims? With riveting psychological complexity, The Ruins captures the tangled legacy of abuse, the glittering allure of the Mediterranean––and the dark shadows that wait beneath the surface of both.
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I have to put my heart back in my chest before I can write this review. This was such a heartbreaking but mesmerizing read.
Ruby has enjoyed summers in her family's chateau in France ever since she can remember. The summer she turns 12, the chateau is filled with friends old and new of her family's. This plunges Ruby into a tumultuous summer that leaves her and everyone that stays that summer changed forever.
This is my first book of Phoebe Wynne and I will absolutely be reading more of her work. The writing is beautiful and I could not stop reading. This is clearly meant for people like me who remember vividly being put in uncomfortable situations with older men that “mean no harm”. Comments and forced hugs aren't harmful, right? I felt strongly for every character, whether that was disdain, love, or my hear breaking for them. Each character was written so perfectly and the way we see them through Ruby's eyes was masterful.
This book is listed as a thriller on some platforms, and while there is a thriller component that's done really well, I'd consider this contemporary fiction for the most part. There's also mystery throughout the entire book which isn't revealed until the very end. The story is through Ruby's eyes though there is a dual timeline aspect where you can see the viewpoint from a person in present day, whose identity isn't revealed until later in the book. This is another part of the writing that I thought was brilliant. It added to the mystery and propelled me forward to learn who this narrator was and their connection to the chateau.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. Definitely my favorite read of July and maybe the year.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this ARC.
